


Decorations and Revelations

by SapphicScholar



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Identity Reveal, bit of angst, supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-17 08:25:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13073007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar
Summary: Prompt: Kara is organising Cat's schedule for Christmas and realises that she will be alone. Decides to pop in as Supergirl to keep her company





	Decorations and Revelations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CurvyPragmatist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CurvyPragmatist/gifts).



> A/N: I set this toward the end of S1 fairly soon after Kara gets her promotion
> 
> I hope you enjoy! And happy holidays :)

It wasn’t as though Kara didn’t appreciate the promotion or enjoy the new job—she did, of course she did. And it wasn’t as though she thought Eve Teschmacher was incompetent; she had helped to find and choose and train her and knew she had potential. But she liked to keep tabs on Cat’s schedule, just in case. There had been that one incident during Eve’s first week when she’d sent a call from one of Cat’s ex-husbands through to Cat’s direct office line just moments before a board meeting, and another when Eve hadn’t immediately put through a call from Carter, not realizing that Cat’s directions not to disturb her never extended to her son, but otherwise she was fairly competent.

The holidays were different, though, which was precisely why Kara had volunteered to take care of Cat’s schedule while Eve busied herself with ensuring that CatCo had enough staff not out on vacation to keep everything running smoothly. As Kara settled down at her desk with Cat’s calendar open in front of her along with a list of appointments and invitations, she couldn’t help but smile at the familiarity of the task. On the one hand, she liked some of the changes that had come with the promotion: Cat used her real name on a regular basis and seemed to treat her as more of a friend than an employee. But she also missed parts of her old job. She missed being the gatekeeper to Cat, missed the closeness of their late nights together, missed knowing that her thoughtfulness and attentiveness were what brought out a rare smile even on Cat’s worst days.

Beginning with the holiday party invitations, Kara quickly sorted them by date, tossing to the side the ones she knew Cat would never deign to attend. Everything scheduled for the night of Carter’s school art show was an automatic no. It didn’t matter that the show would end by 9 at the latest; Cat would want to be there and take him out for dessert after it ended, not simply drop in and run off to a party with people she barely knew, let alone cared about. The new pile was much smaller, and she was able to narrow it down to one or two options per night for the week leading up to Christmas, then again for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day celebrations. Knowing Cat, she’d want the final say, so Kara simply stacked them with the ones on top she thought Cat would likely prefer.

A quick check to Cat’s calendar revealed that she was free for the next hour, so Kara headed down the hallway to her office, waving at her through the large glass door. She could’ve sworn she even saw Cat’s mouth curl up in a small smile when she caught sight of Kara, though perhaps it was just wishful thinking.

“Kiera? To what do I owe the honor?” Even the sarcasm dripping from her words did little to distract from the softness of her tone—something Kara didn’t think she heard her use with anyone else in the office, save maybe for that one time when James got to deliver the news that Cat had been selected over Lois Lane for an award…

“I volunteered to help Eve by organizing your holiday schedule.”

“What? Your new choice in whatever career you wanted to have isn’t satisfying that millennial craving for constant affirmation and change?”

Kara shook her head. “It’s not that. You know as well as I do how much there is to juggle this time of year.”

“You always seemed to manage,” Cat pointed out, arching an eyebrow at Kara as she reached for the small cup of M&Ms that had been sitting on her desk when she arrived this morning, along with two Advil. Even though Kara had no reason to know that Cat had spoken with her ex last night, she suspected their presence on her desk was Kara’s doing.

“Ah, yeah, well, I had years of experience,” Kara offered with a shrug.

“So quick to dismiss your own talent…but maybe this job just requires something…super.”

Swallowing hard, Kara forced herself to chuckle. With the new job, she couldn’t help but feel as though it might not be the worst thing in the world for Cat to know the truth, though she suspected Alex and J’onn wouldn’t feel the same way. But the little teasing jabs about her night job had become more frequent, and Kara had trouble finding the will to continue denying them. “Eve will learn.”

“Perhaps.”

“She will. But to help out, I brought you a narrowed down list of options for holiday parties this coming week.”

“Nothing on the 22nd; it’s—”

“Carter’s art show, I know.”

Cat felt herself soften ever so slightly at the reminder of how well Kara knew her, how much Kara recognized about her that no one else did. She understood that even Cat’s fierce loyalty to her company and her desire to cultivate a proper public persona would never come close to competing with her need to be there for Carter, to support him and show him all the love she had never gotten from her own mother, the love she failed to show to her first son when she let his father whisk him away without a fight.

“So,” Kara continued, “I put them in order by date if you want to go through them?”

Cat accepted the proffered stack of invitations, quickly flipping through them and tossing a few to the side. Eventually she had narrowed it down to one on each night, and two for that Saturday, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to make an appearance at both of them.

“I’ll go put these into your calendar, Ms. Grant.”

“You know I do have an assistant, right?”

“I really don’t mind.”

“Very well,” Cat sighed, handing over the smaller stack. “But I think Evelyn can handle the declines.”

“I’m sure _Eve_ can. Anything else you want me to put into your calendar?”

“I’ll go through and forward any emails with dates that might be useful.” Kara nodded but lingered for a few minutes until Cat waved her away, her back toward her once more. “You can go.”

By the time Kara had gotten back to her desk and entered in all of Cat’s commitments, along with any information about notable guests—both the good and the bad—she thought might be relevant, she had a string of forwarded emails waiting for her. The first was a note from Cat’s mother informing her that she had a last-minute invitation to Paris and really couldn’t say no—Cat understood, though, right? She felt a surge of righteous anger on Cat’s behalf, but tamped it down to stay focused. It wasn’t as though a visit from Katherine Grant would bring any holiday cheer. If anyone had a heart two sizes too small…

The next email was a reminder from Cat’s ex-husband and Carter’s father that he would be picking up Carter on the morning of the 23rd to spend Christmas with him and his new wife this year, since Carter had spent it with Cat for the past two years. Skimming through the rest of the invitations, Kara realized that Cat would, in fact, be entirely alone for Christmas, as well as the following day. She sifted through the ones she had thrown out earlier, double-checking to see if she had missed anything, but everyone appeared to have their own plans for the 25th.

After entering the final details in Cat’s calendar, she sent an email to the woman herself asking if she would check it over to see if she had missed anything, hoping that perhaps she had plans that she had forgotten to forward.

Less than a minute later a reply dinged in Kara’s inbox:

 _Good._  
_–Cat_

Kara sighed, wishing she could do something for Cat. She knew how hard the weekends without Carter were for her and couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be on Christmas, a day that was supposed to be about holiday cheer and spending time with loved ones.

\---

Come Christmas afternoon, Kara found herself circling the city, edging closer and closer to Cat’s penthouse. Eliza had been in town for the end of Hanukkah, and Alex was spending Christmas at the DEO, earning more than time and a half for volunteering to cover to let some of her agents spend the day with their families. Kara had spent the morning keeping Alex company and helping to brighten the DEO with strings of twinkling lights and sprigs of holly, giving a festive bent to the typical underground lair feel, then flew around spreading some cheer as Supergirl, but now she found herself drawn to the woman she knew would be spending the day alone.

Yet when she drifted closer to the penthouse, she didn’t hear Cat’s heartbeat. She flew a little closer and scanned the apartment, only to find it empty. As she turned to head for the beach house, a thought struck her and she spun back and hurtled through the air straight to Cat’s balcony at CatCo.

“Do you ever stop working, Cat?” Kara called from the balcony. As sad as she was to see Cat completely alone at work surrounded by a stack of heavily edited proofs on her right with a half-empty glass of wine by her left hand, she couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous she looked, her hair falling in soft waves around her face. With no one here to see her, she had dressed almost casually, wearing tight black jeans and a maroon sweater under a leather jacket that framed her perfectly.

“Do you?” Cat shot back.

“I had a morning off.”

“Now tell me, Supergirl, did you spend it with family? Do you even celebrate Christmas?” A wicked grin flitted across Cat’s features—the same one that curled up the corners of her mouth whenever she found the detail that would crack a story wide open.

Kara simply smiled and shook her head, and Cat knew better than to press for details. “I heard you were spending Christmas alone.”

“You heard, did you?”

“I did. I don’t think anyone should have to celebrate all alone, though.”

“I have all the company I need, don’t you see?” Cat joked, though her words were laced with just a trace of pain and regret. “I have all of my employees’ incompetence right here.” She gestured at the stack of proofs covered in bold slashes of her red pen.

“Looks like you’ve already made it through the full pile… Plus, it’s 4pm. Don’t you think you can call it a day?”

“To go home to my empty apartment and catch the next four screenings of A Christmas Story?”

“Mm here I might have guessed Love Actually,” Kara teased, finally pulling a genuine laugh from Cat. “But who says you have to go home alone?”

“My, my, am I being propositioned by Supergirl?”

“Propositioned for a night of champagne and delicious food and maybe even a decent Christmas movie. Honorary Girl Scout’s honor.”

“Sounds better than most of the dates I’ve been on,” Cat mumbled, though of course Kara heard (and blushed a bright shade of pink). It wasn’t as though she was oblivious to her crush on the CEO, but she’d never intended to act on it—at least not with such little forethought and planning.

“Right, um, shall we head out?” Kara asked, trying (and failing) not to look flustered as she gestured out the balcony.

Glancing around and then back at a nervous Supergirl, who looked more Kara-esque than ever as she fidgeted slightly under Cat’s scrutiny, Cat smirked. “Are you suggesting that I should allow you to carry me instead of letting my thoroughly vetted driver take me home?”

Puffing out her chest and looking slightly indignant, Kara defended herself: “I am most definitely the safest method of travel in National City.” Not wanting to dredge up bad memories, Cat chose not to mention the time she’d been flung off her own balcony by Supergirl and caught late enough that she’d already made her peace with dying. “But I could also, you know, meet you back at your apartment. It’ll give me a chance to pick up one or two things.”

Intrigued enough by the offer, Cat decided not to have her fun teasing the girl about why she had been so eager to get Cat back in her arms again. “Alright then, Supergirl.”

With a dazzling smile and a little wave, Kara stepped out through the balcony door and shot up into the air, intent on gathering everything she needed to make this a Christmas to remember. After nearly flying into a building in a haze of nervous anticipation, she tried to forget Cat’s remark about how much it sounded like a date—and a good date, at that.

\---

Cat stacked and re-stacked the small pile of books on her coffee table without really paying attention to the order. The fact that her apartment was already spotless, save for Carter’s room, which was still tidy by his teenage logic, mattered little. Supergirl’s imminent arrival, on the other hand…well, that had all of her attention. Was it a date? Was Supergirl Kara? She was fairly certain they were one in the same. After all, the news had been full of reports of a shapeshifter on the run with the woman Cat knew to be Kara’s sister, so there were plenty of explanations for the presence of both women in her office at the same time, even if the stunt had thrown her for a few weeks. It would certainly explain why her heart beat just a little faster, why her breath grew just a little shallower, in the presence of both Kara and Supergirl.

Which brought her right back to the question of whether it was a date. She doubted Kara would be so bold as to ask her outright, but perhaps as Supergirl… She shook her head, dismissing her thoughts as idle fantasies. The woman was drop dead gorgeous, half her age, and a superhero to boot. A bit of harmless flirting was one thing. An actual date was quite another.

A rap at the balcony window drew her attention back to the present. Straightening her jacket one last time, Cat strode over and unlocked the door, stepping back to allow Supergirl to fit past her with the two large bags in her arms.

“When you said you one or two things, I didn’t realize those things would be duffel bags,” Cat teased.

“I promise, every item in here is absolutely necessary for holiday cheer.”

Even though she bit back her smile, Cat couldn’t deny that the cheery attitude was contagious. Knowing she wouldn’t have Carter around this year had put a significant damper on all things Christmas, so other than the tree she and Carter had decorated together earlier that month, she had resolutely ignored the impending holiday, opting to focus on work instead. She had planned to spend most of her day in the office and most of her night curled up in bed with a book and a glass of wine, but she found that she couldn’t quite be upset about the change in plans.

By the time Cat turned her attention back to Supergirl, she found her counters covered in what looked like far more than could ever have fit in those two bags. Catching sight of Cat’s astonished expression, Kara grinned sheepishly. “I wasn’t sure how much you already had…”

“How much of what exactly?”

“Cookie ingredients to start.”

“I do have a kitchen.” And I certainly cook more than you, if the amount of takeout you have delivered to the office is any indication, she thought, not wanting to bring up the whole Kara/Supergirl thing yet.

Kara just barely managed not to add that her sister also had a kitchen but it didn’t mean she kept it stocked with any actual food. “Well, now you won’t have to worry about using yours! Plus, I doubt you have as many varieties of sprinkles as I brought.”

“Likely not…I doubt that most ice cream parlors have as many varieties of sprinkles as you do.”

Kara grinned at the accurate assessment; there was a reason she sometimes brought her own when Alex took her out for dessert. “Then we have all sorts of decorations, as much Christmas music as you could want, a few options for movies, and a little something to celebrate when we’re done.” Intrigued, Cat moved to investigate, but Kara zipped the bag closed and moved it far away before Cat could even take a full step forward. “I thought we could start with cookies? Then we can decorate while they’re baking and cooling.”

“Whatever you say, Supergirl.” She wasn’t normally one for ceding control, but she thought for one afternoon it might not be the worst thing in the world.

Kara zipped over to the kitchen and began setting out all of the ingredients they would need. “I brought ingredients for gingerbread, sugar, and chocolate chip! Do you have a preference?”

“I know he’s not here, but sugar cookies are Carter’s favorite,” Cat answered, her tone softening in the way it always did when she talked about her son.

“And you—do you have a preference? We can always make two batches.” As Kara she was allowed to know that Cat had a strong preference for all things chocolate when the stress of long days full of entitled board members and incompetent employees, but as Supergirl…well, she didn’t need to thrust more proof of her real identity in front of Cat.

“I suppose I like chocolate chip best.”

“Excellent! If you’ve got two sets of bowls, we can each take one of the recipes and get them ready.”

Cat managed to bite back an exasperated “Kiera.” “Yes, Supergirl,” she sighed, “I am an adult. I have more than one mixing bowl.”

“Excellent!” While Cat pulled down bowls and measuring cups, Kara set out the ingredients they would need, then placed the two recipes down on the counter. “Which one do you want to make?”

Feeling a bit nostalgic with Carter gone, Cat offered to make the sugar cookies for him. “And you can try to impress me with my favorites,” she teased, batting her eyelashes and laughing when Supergirl’s cheeks flushed a shade of red nearly as bright as her cape.

With some of Kara’s favorite Christmas music playing softly in the background, they set about preparing their cookie dough, working side-by-side. Cat found herself impressed by how easily they cooked together, the close proximity of another person not bothering her for a change. The conversation flowed smoothly enough, though they both seemed content with stretches of comfortable silence as they focused on measuring ingredients.

While Kara mixed in the last of her chocolate, having opted for red and green M&Ms instead of the traditional chocolate chips, Cat turned to find saran wrap.

“What are you doing?” Kara asked when Cat carried the newly covered bowl over to the fridge.

“Putting the dough in the fridge to chill for a few hours.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that!” Cat looked confused, but Kara simply grinned and took the bowl from her hands, setting it back down on the marble countertop. With a deep breath, Kara carefully blew out as she kneaded at the dough, ensuring it was thoroughly and evenly chilled.

“And I don’t have to worry about germs?”

“No germs, I promise.”

Figuring the girl of steel never got sick, Cat seemed satisfied. “So you don’t always have to freeze things entirely?”

Kara shook her head. “At first, yeah. But I’ve learned to regulate my powers, so I can, you know, use my heat vision to warm something without incinerating it—that kind of stuff.”

“My, isn’t that handy…” Cat tried to focus on the practical uses rather than letting her mind drift to all the distinctly less appropriate uses for Supergirl’s well-regulated powers. The flush that crept up Supergirl’s cheeks, however, suggested that she hadn’t been entirely successful in hiding her thoughts.

“Mhm,” Kara nearly squeaked, distracting herself from the intensity of Cat’s gaze and the spike in her heart rate by plucking a few pans out, greasing them, and beginning to spoon her dough out in even rows. Thanks to a bit of superspeed that Kara hadn’t quite realized she was using, all of her trays were filled before Cat had even finished rolling out her dough on a carefully sanitized countertop. While Cat pulled out the different cookie cutters she and Carter had purchased over the years, Kara turned back to the music to switch over to The Nutcracker soundtrack, taking a moment just to enjoy the sight of Cat carefully peeling her perfectly rolled and cut shapes off of the counter and placing them on her baking sheet.

Eventually she forced herself to go back over and offer to help, laughing at the handful of superhero cookie cutters. “This one yours or Carter’s?” she teased, holding up a blue plastic outline of Supergirl.

Leveling the resident superhero with a glare that made lesser men shrivel, Cat replied drily: “Whose do you think it is?”

Deciding to press her luck, given the holiday spirit and the odd domesticity of it all, Kara bit her lip and shrugged. “I guess probably yours. You did brand me, after all,” she taunted, a flirty lilt to her voice.

“That I did, though you’re the one that earned the name for yourself, Supergirl,” Cat purred, trailing a finger down Kara’s upper arm. Two could play at this game.

Uncertain of how to respond (and equally uncertain of whether or not her voice would work), Kara turned back to the newly cut dough and began decorating the unbaked cookies with her assortment of sprinkles.

“Do you like The Nutcracker?” Cat asked as they slipped back into an easy routine.

Kara nodded enthusiastically.

“Did you dance?”

Kara turned to Cat, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Depends. Is this on the record?”

“We’re baking Christmas cookies in my apartment.”

“And?”

“Fine,” Cat huffed. “No, it’s off the record.”

“I danced back on Krypton. I—my family—we were one of the noble houses, so we had balls and things like that. Part of growing up and preparing myself to be the head of such a family meant learning things like proper dancing. It wasn’t quite like what you have here, but it was…” Kara paused, letting her eyes flutter closed as she thought back to her home planet. “It was beautiful.”

“Did you end up dancing here?”

“Oh, definitely not,” Kara chuckled. “In high school I broke my date’s toes just barely shuffling to a slow dance—I didn’t want to know what would happen springing about with a dozen other very fragile humans.” Seeing Cat’s look of confusion, she clarified: “The whole learning to control my powers thing was a slow process.”

“I see.”

“And you?”

“Ah yes, mother made sure I was being trained in all the arts becoming of a young lady. Despite everything between us, I managed to salvage an appreciation for ballet, at the very least.”

“I’m sure you were beautiful up on stage,” Kara mused quietly, too caught up in the thought of a young Cat twirling gracefully in the spotlight to notice the faint pink flush of Cat’s cheeks.

“Yes, well,” Cat huffed, unsure of her words for once in her life. “Shall we put the cookies in the oven or do you plan on showing off your well-controlled heat vision?”

Kara laughed softly and took the trays, popping them into the oven and setting a timer on her phone. “Now, I brought some decorations if you’re not opposed to adding some garland and glitter and holly to your perfectly color-coordinated apartment.”

“I draw the line at glitter,” Cat said sternly, though she plucked a garland from the assortment and strung it over the mantle, watching as Supergirl flitted around the apartment with boughs of holly. Once the garland was properly centered, Cat dug in the bag and found a few jingle bells and candles that she wove artfully through her garland, stepping back only when she was satisfied that the mantle was done. While she sorted through the pile of decorations to see what else the woman had brought, the timer went off, and Cat reached over to stop it.

Her small gasp pulled Kara’s attentions from the banister around which she’d been weaving strings of twinkling lights. Feeling a surge of panic at the sight of Cat clutching her phone, her lips parted slightly, Kara flung herself across the room and pulled the phone from her hands.

“So I was right.”

Kara attempted to look nonchalant. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh really, Kara? You have no idea?” When Kara moved to protest, Cat simply leaned over and hit the home button, pulling up the lock screen photo of Kara Danvers with her sister and an oversized ice cream cone.

“I could be dating your assistant.”

“Really? You’d rather prove Freud right than me?”

“Ms. Grant,” Kara sighed.

“Cat.”

“Cat, I just—can we not do this? We were having fun.”

“We were having fun—are still having fun. This only confirms what I already knew.”

“Oh really? You already knew? I think if that were true, I’d have found a nice little termination letter on my desk some time ago.” Kara couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of her voice as she spun on her heels and went over to the oven to fetch the cookies before they could burn.

Cat couldn’t help the smile of amazement as Kara plucked the trays out of the oven with her bare hands. Convenient indeed. Seeing the annoyed expression on Kara’s face, though, her shoulders slumped slightly. “I…I was hurt, and I may have lashed out. I’m sorry for that, for the way I treated you. But you have to know that it hadn’t been my intention all along. I had figured it out—I saw you for who you were, but you didn’t trust me with that knowledge.”

“It’s not about trust, Cat. Anyone who knows who I am is in danger—always.”

“You remember Livewire, right? And the Bronze Banshee or whatever the hell she called herself? I’m already in danger. Like you said, I branded you. Whether or not you confirm your identity for me, people already associate the two of us, and that puts me in danger regardless.”

“But I don’t want that for you!”

“You don’t get to make that choice! I was a reporter, Kara, and before that a goddam gossip columnist. You think I don’t know what it’s like to have enemies? People who would rather see me silent, rather see me disappear?”

“But those jobs—they were your choice.”

“This was too. But I couldn’t just ignore the hero in front of me, no matter how much safer it might have kept me. You of all people should understand! You chose to be a hero, to save people, even though you knew it put a target on your back from enemies powerful enough to kill the ‘indestructible Kryptonian.’ The promise of something bigger than you made you fight.”

Kara swallowed thickly, trying to find words for everything she was feeling. Instead she simply inclined her head. “I’m sorry.”

“I am too,” Cat finally admitted. And as much as she loathed the idea of apologizing, hated the way women were simply expected to apologize for any acts of assertiveness or power, she found she meant it this time, found that she was happy to be able to put it out there. And the look of respect and something so much softer, so much deeper, on Kara’s face made it even better.

“So, um, cookies?” Kara suggested, needing something to break the tension that had made the air thick with emotions she wasn’t quite ready to deal with.

“Why don’t you put some on a plate, and I’ll look to see if you brought any holiday movies I might actually tolerate.”

Eventually they settled in on the couch with a plate of cookies on the coffee table and White Christmas playing on the television. With the truth out, Kara had changed into jeans and a tacky Rudolph sweater Cat had deemed “positively hideous,” though she couldn’t quite hide her gleeful laughter.

“Alright, first cookie of the night!” Kara announced, picking up one of each variety and holding them out to Cat to choose.

Looking at her options, Cat’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “You’re asking me if I’d rather have a cookie full of my favorite candy or eat Supergirl?” she deadpanned, motioning at the sugar cookie Kara had pulled from the top of the pile, which happened to have been one of the Supergirl cookies, decorated rather accurately by Kara herself.

With a startled little gasp at the insinuation, Kara accidentally snapped the head off of the sugar cookie, then shoved the rest in her mouth to keep from saying something she might regret.

Smirking slightly but deciding not to taunt Kara any further, Cat simply plucked the M&M cookie from Kara’s other hand and broke off a piece. “Not too bad, Supergirl.”

“Thanks,” Kara mumbled as she fumbled for the remote to find a distraction.

And for a while it worked. They sat together, eating their way through the plate of cookies and then the cheese and crackers Cat had gotten out after hearing Kara’s stomach growling. But eventually Cat found herself more curious about what the surprise in Kara’s bag was than the plot of a movie she’d already seen more than once, so she reached over and paused it.

“What’s up?” Kara asked, scooting a little farther away from Cat on the couch, having drifted close during the movie.

“Well…I believe I was promised some kind of celebratory surprise from those gigantic duffel bags cluttering my floor.”

“Don’t act like you’re not pleased with everything else that’s come out of them so far,” Kara teased, emboldened by just how well the evening had gone and feeling lighter than ever without the weight of her secret identity hanging over them.

“The Rudolph sweater is something of a low spot on that list, dear.”

“You like it.”

“I like mocking it.”

“And you love mocking things, so therefore the sweater is bringing you enjoyment.”

“By that logic Lois Lane brings me great joy too.”

Kara just rolled her eyes, not bothering to point out how much they both drove each other to succeed through their little competitions. Looking through the bag that still had a few items in it, Kara pulled out a bottle of champagne. “I know it’s more of a New Year’s thing, but I think there are still things worth celebrating today.”

“I’ll toast to that.”

Once Cat had pulled down two champagne flutes and set them on the counter, Kara winked at her before carefully squeezing at the bottle until the cork popped.

“Quite the party trick,” Cat remarked, though the dismissive quality of her words did little to mask the way her eyes had darkened or the hitch in her breathing at the obvious show of strength.

For once not backing away from the attention, Kara simply leaned over and filled their glasses, passing one to Cat. “To new beginnings.”

With a clink of their glasses, they both sipped at the bubbly liquid. “This is actually passable…”

“I was your assistant for years, Cat; I think I know what’s up to your standards,” Kara huffed.

“Yes…yes, you do,” Cat found herself agreeing, though her thoughts strayed far beyond the choice of champagne. “Now, I believe you were sifting through things in that bag of yours…anything else left up your sleeve?”

“Oh, um, just a few more decorations, I think.”

Before Cat could ask any more questions, her phone rang, the loud buzz of the vibrations against the hardwood table echoing loudly in the otherwise quiet apartment. The growling complaint about her employees’ incompetence died in her throat as soon as she saw her son’s name on the caller ID. “Carter,” she mouthed to Kara before picking up the phone and wandering off into the bedroom.

She listened as he talked about his day, told her stories from the dinner with her ex-husband’s family, listed out the presents he had received, some of which were clearly chosen based on Carter’s age and gender with absolutely no regard for what he actually liked, Cat thought.

“What about you? Did you finally leave the office?” he asked.

Cat grinned wryly at the knowing tone. The familial resemblance was striking sometimes. “I did actually.”

“And did you do anything fun today? Working doesn’t count!”

Chuckling, Cat shook her head. “I actually had a nice visit from Supergirl.”

“What? Really? Is she still there? Tell her I said hi!” The words tumbled out in a rush of enthusiasm and passion that Cat was glad to see Carter had never outgrown, never tried to mask under an expression of schooled indifference.

“I’ll be sure to tell her.”

There was a pause on the other line. “Oh…dad’s calling. I should probably go.”

With a forced smile that Carter would have seen right through had he been there, Cat nodded. “Right, right. Merry Christmas, Carter. I’ll see you so soon.

“See you soon, Mom. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

Cat took a few moments to compose herself after hanging up, finding that the promise of Kara waiting with champagne and cookies in her living room was more than enough of an enticement.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Cat said with a small flick of her wrist as she rounded the corner into the living room, finding Kara sitting and fidgeting on one of the barstools by the kitchen counter. “Everything okay?”

“Don’t sound so suspicious. I’m not that much of a disaster.”

“No…”

“How’s Carter?”

“He’s doing well. Why the change in subjects?”

“No reason!”

“Do you think I’ve forgotten that there was something else in that bag?”

Kara chuckled. “No, I know you too well to think you’d ever forget a secret you hadn’t yet uncovered.”

Cat grinned at that. “Well then why don’t you tell me?”

“Well…not all surprises are good surprises, you know? Or maybe someone thinks it’ll be a good surprise, but it’s not actually good for the other person. Sometimes surprises can ruin a thing that’s already good,” Kara rambled, her fears tumbling out in rapid succession.

“Breathe, Kara.”

“Right. Just…maybe you let it go?”

“You know what makes a surprise better?”

“Puppies?” Kara joked.

“A lack of hesitation.”

With a deep breath, Kara stood and swept forward, drawing Cat over toward her perfectly decorated mantle.

“Did you bring wood to light a fire?”

Kara shook her head, gesturing above them to where she’d added one last decoration: a few green leaves tied together with a small red bow. When Cat looked back, Kara drew her closer, cupping her free hand around Cat’s jaw before bringing their lips together—just for a moment.

“I always did say brazen was a good color on you,” Cat murmured, grinning lazily up at Kara before leaning forward and capturing her lips in a heated kiss that left them both slightly breathless.

“Should we, uh, finish the movie?” Kara asked, her thoughts far too fuzzy to think of anything else to say, other than, “Wow,” or, “You’re perfect.”

“I think I know how it ends, don’t you?” Cat asked, her voice low and thick with want.

Kara nodded quickly.

“Then maybe we move this over to my room and see if we can’t find a few other ways to celebrate the holiday…”


End file.
